The 2023-2024 Football Kenya Federation Premier League title is officially out of reach for Kenya Police following their 1-0 defeat to Tusker at the Police Sacco Grounds on Saturday.Police needed maximum points from the game in order to preserve their slim title hopes as well as redeem themselves following their mid-week 1-0 loss to AFC Leopards.However, the law enforcers had yet another afternoon to forget after bowing to Tusker and in the end, falling out of the title race.Tusker Skipper Charles Momanyi ended Police’s title hopes after rising high to head home a long ball floated to the area by his fellow centre back Eugene Asike in the 43rd minute.##NAJAVA_MECA_8109803##Momanyi, flicked the ball that sailed into an empty after Police goalkeeper Patrick Matasi, failed to make contact having come off his line in a bid to thwart the attempt.Before the goal, Matasi had committed glaring errors including gifting Tusker an indirect freekick, a show that summed up what has been an awful week for the shot-stopper.Apart from being partly at fault for the goal leading to their loss today, Matasi literally gifted Leopards three points on Wednesday as his howler halted Police’s unbeaten run in the year.Red-hot Makwata strikes twice to complicate Shabana’s survival chancesDespite the errors that have cost his side six points inside a week, Police goalkeepers’ trainer Idd Salim has jumped to the defence of Matasi.“Loss of concentration,” said the trainer. “Mistakes happen in football. We shift our focus to the Mozzart Bet Cup semifinal clash against Leopards. We generally didn’t have a good game against Tusker. We will work on the mistakes and ready ourselves for the next game,” he added.Posta Rangers stage second-half comeback to beat Kakamega HomeboyzWhile the result was a bitter pill for Police to swallow, Tusker assistant coach George Maina was elated with the three points how the team handled the pressure.The win keeps Tusker in the race pending the outcome of tomorrow’s league match pitting defending champions Gor Mahia against Muhoroni Youth.“It was a tough game as we expected. The boys played to instructions. We faced a decent team and handled pressure well. We knew they would keep the ball, knock it around and try to dominate. We countered them well,” he said.If K’Ogalo beat Muhoroni on Sunday, the holders will successfully retain the crown.
